Page 69 of Every Deadly Suspicion

“Oh.” Hanna grabbed her phone. “I shut it off at the coroner’s last night, uh, this morning. Sorry, forgot to turn it back on.” She noticed the way he was looking at Jared.

“Nathan, this is Jared Hodges. Jared, Nathan Sharp.”

“Nice to meet you, Nathan,” Jared said amiably. “I just stopped by on my way home to ask about the barrels. I’ll be on my way now.”

Nathan nodded, his expression cold. “Likewise. Have a good day.”

Jared walked off to his truck and Nathan watched him go, while Hanna watched Nathan. “What’s that about?” Hanna asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You seem angry.”

“Like I said, I was worried about you. I didn’t expect to find Hodges here. I was coming to apologize, and I walk up on this.”

“You didn’t walk up on anything. He’s a good friend. He was at the lake yesterday when we pulled up the barrels. His curiosity was understandable.” Hanna struggled to stop from becoming furious.

He blew out a breath and scrubbed his face with his hands. Nathan looked at Hanna. “I’m sorry. I’m tired and frustrated.” Stepping closer, he said, “I heard about the tentative ID. You’ve found Blake and Sophia after all.”

Hanna relaxed; she was tired and frustrated as well. “I’m headed to Sonora. I want to look at the original crime and arrest report.”

“That’s right, you’ve never looked at it before.” His brows scrunched together.

“What? It’s still in storage, isn’t it?”

“Oh yeah. It’s, well, there is not much to it. Since Joe’s here, why not ask him?”

“He weakens easily. And he’s not been very forthcoming about anything. I take it you’re not getting anywhere with Edda’s case or the other murders.”

“No. This online suspect is good at covering his tracks. Tech thinks he used multiple burner phones. Nothing we’ve found on the victims’ computers provides any clue to his identity. I wish we had their phones.”

“I’m sorry. I wish I could help.”

“You have enough on your plate. Maybe we can carve out some time for lunch today. I’d like things to get back to normal for us.”

“I’d like that too. But Nathan, Jared will always be my friend.”

“I guess I’ll have to live with that.”

Nathan walked Hanna to her car, but a distance yawned between them.

Is that distance my fault or his?

CHAPTER 37

HANNA WAITED TWENTY MINUTESfor the box of Joe’s case files to be brought up from storage. It was simply one box. When she signed for it and took it to a cubicle, she studied it for a moment before she opened it. One box for two murders and a near murder. In this day and age, there would be a room full of boxes of evidence for such an investigation.

She opened the box and took all the items out: two thick file folders, one for the homicides and one thinner one for the arrest report. She started with the homicide folder. On top were photos of the cabin, Beecher’s Mine cabin. It hadn’t been completely destroyed. Obviously, fire had torn through the small building, but two walls still stood. By the time she’d gotten up there with Jared, the years had taken down those walls. There were remnants of meth-cooking hardware; some of the pictures were labeled. Bottles labeledacid, trash, and liquor bottles. There were pictures of blood spatter—a lot of blood. Some were labeledVictim Oneand some were labeledVictim Two.

There were no pictures of Chase.

Hanna rifled through everything and could find no photos of the one living victim. That was odd. He would have been part ofthe investigation. There should have been photos to document his injuries.

Things got odd with the report narrative.Reporting officers were notified by an unnamed subject that there had been a shooting at Beecher’s Mine cabin. He told officers that he heard gunshots and saw Joseph Keyes running away from the cabin. He also reported that he saw smoke coming from the cabin. Reporting officers arrived at Beecher’s Mine cabin and found it almost completely engulfed in fire.

She skimmed the whole report. The “unnamed subject” was never named, not even to be redacted. Observations thatsomeonehad been cooking meth followed once the fire was extinguished. There was nothing about Chase, or anyone else. Most of the pages were lab reports on the different substances removed from the scene. It was a meth lab.

Frowning, she turned her attention to the arrest report. Joe was arrested at the hospital in Sonora. He was pulled off the maternity floor. In 1991 officers did not have to file a probable-cause declaration. The simple arrest report declared that officers again followed the tip by the unnamed subject. He saw Joe Keyes running from the cabin.

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